Tag Archives: rat

Cormorant on the Pond (and a rat at the side)

October 23, 2013 by Words | Comments Off

I’m still making the early morning effort to see what’s going on at the pond, but poor light and the frequent rain is turning that into something of a lost cause. Fortunately the days improve as the hours pass, and at lunchtime it was really quite mild and I was able to enjoy a little bit of sunshine and blue skies.

I missed the moment it came into land (I was ‘rat spotting’ at the time) but I did manage to catch the departure of a cormorant paying a brief visit to the pond. It only stayed a few minutes… one swum circuit and then off.

Cormorant

Cormorant

Cormorant

Cormorant

Cormorant

And then it was back to rat-spotting. A few more wet weeks and the rapidly filling pond will flood the rat runs around the exposed banks. For now, there’s still enough room for them to lurk among the rocks, though occasionally they take to the water to swim round them rather than clambering over. No swimming shots today; just these.

rat

rat

Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

Posted in Birds, rats, water birds, Wildlife Also tagged , |

Rat Portraits

October 21, 2013 by Words | Comments Off

Two simple sequences of a young rat taken at lunchtime today. The light was poor and the dark corners of the pond make things even more difficult. The camera was set at ISO 1600 and the shutter speed ranges between 1/125 and 1/250 across the shots.

The first sequence is a rat peeking out of a drainpipe. The foliage overhanging the pond gave me the narrowest of angles to get the shots.

rat in a drainpipe

rat in a drainpipe

rat in a drainpipe

A short while later (and after a conversation with a local who asked if I was watching the water voles… I had to disappoint and say what they really were to which they responded ‘They’re still cute’), I spotted another rat (or possibly the same one) perched on a tree root. The heavy rain of the past few days has raised the water level so the previous runs are now inaccessible and to cut across the corners of the pond the rats have to travel up, not down.

Rat on a tree root

Rat on a tree root

Rat on a tree root

Rat on a tree root

Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

Posted in Behaviour, rats, Wildlife Also tagged , |

Rain, Sun, Cormorant, Rat, Fox

October 17, 2013 by Words | Comments Off

Very typical weather today. I left home in high hope of some decent light, but by the time I’d arrived at Falmer the gloom had already set in. It was a dark and somewhat dismal scene, but it held one welcome surprise in the form of a cormorant. It’s been a quiet year for them here, but this lone bird was quietly gliding around the pond as the heavens opened and the rain came down.

Cormorant

Cormorant

Almost as quickly as it had started (though not so quickly that I didn’t get soaked) the rain relented, and the cormorant took the opportunity to dry off.

Cormorant

The weather was still struggling to make up its mind at lunchtime. The sun emerged long enough to entice this common darter out…

Common darter dragonfly

The rats prefer a touch of sunshine even though they mainly lurk in the shade. These are my favourites of the numerous shots I took of them today.

rat

rat

The end of the day was beautiful. The skies cleared and we were blessed with warm red light as the sun descended to the horizon. And all that needs to set it off perfectly is a pretty red fox.

fox

fox

fox

Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

Posted in Birds, Foxes, Insects, water birds, Wildlife Also tagged , , |